Price Transparency New Trend Among Emerging Clothing Retailers – CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — How much does it cost to make the clothes we wear?

New online clothing companies are willing to tell you — and they are betting more pricing transparency will attract customers, CBS’ Silva Braga reported.

When 25-year-old Rose Temple shopped for these shoes at Everlane, the retailer displayed more than a picture and a price.

“When you click on the item you want to buy, it shows you exactly where it was made and how much everything cost,” Temple said.

Everlane’s transparent pricing gives customers a breakdown of their expenses, including labor, transportation, and materials.

“They can see how much we paid for every aspect of this shirt,” Everlane founder Micharl Preysman said.

Preysman founded Everlane in 2012, hoping that being upfront about his costs would draw in customers.

“The problem in apparel and many industries, is you have no concept of what value is,” Preysman said. “So you could buy a $10 t-shirt or a $100 t-shirt, and you don’t really know why.”

Pricing transparency is popping up at couple of other companies. Handbag maker Oliver Cabell tells customers how much it costs for everything from the leather to the zipper. European retailer Honest-by gives a highly-detailed summary of the materials used in their clothing and the costs.

Professor Lori Massaro of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology says these upstarts use transparency to convince customers they’re getting a better deal than traditional retailers offer — even if that’s not always true.

“I don’t want to use the word gimmick, but their biggest marketing tool is their transparent pricing,” Massaro said. “They make it very easy for the consumer to understand.”

Temple said it’s the combination of good quality and good value that keeps her coming back.